


Quiet Water

by TheAsexualofSpades



Series: Quarantine Drabbles [80]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Flowerfell (Undertale), Alternate Universe - Underfell (Undertale), Angst, Blind Character, Blindness, Body Horror, Echo Flowers (Undertale), Flowerfell Frisk (Undertale), Flowerfell Sans (Undertale), Gen, Injured Frisk, Mute Frisk (Undertale), Muteness, Poor Sans (Undertale), Protective Sans (Undertale), Sans (Undertale) Remembers Resets, Underfell Grillby (Undertale), Underfell Papyrus (Undertale), Underfell Sans (Undertale), Undertale Saves and Resets, i don't think it's that bad but this is flower fell we're talking about so
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-12
Updated: 2020-06-12
Packaged: 2021-03-03 23:06:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,054
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24683545
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheAsexualofSpades/pseuds/TheAsexualofSpades
Summary: Everyone dies. Not everyone comes back.Every time Frisk dies, another flower grows. Sans promised them that he would not let them die on his watch.He should know better than to make promises he can't keep.
Relationships: Frisk & Sans (Undertale)
Series: Quarantine Drabbles [80]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1677655
Comments: 4
Kudos: 41





	Quiet Water

**Author's Note:**

> wow i woke up on the angst train today huh

Fandom: Undertale

Prompt: “Tell me a story.”

* * *

Waterfall is quiet, the burble of the streams is all he can hear.

Sans moves slowly through the caverns, his skull bowed low, chin stuffed into the collar of his hoodie. His hands clutch at the linings of the pockets, tearing new holes in the worn fabric. His feet move of their own accord, one in front of the other, along the damp pathways. He barely registers the droplets that fall onto his skull or the smaller monsters that scuttle to the other side of the tunnels. He knows better than to head for Undyne’s turf, knows better than to stumble into a fight he can’t win. Plus, he’s not here for her.

His special passageway is over here, just off the main paths in the dark space before the turnoff to Temmie Village. The Temmies tend to get a bit…stranger after dark. As the night cycle begins, he glances around, making sure no one else can see him duck into a dimly lit opening.

The rest of the cavern he leaves behind fades as the glowing mushroom dims. The passage in front is lit by the soft glow of the Echo Flowers. Sans’ shoulders slump and he starts trudging down the pathway. He can feel the slow rumble in the ground, feel it in his SOUL. He doesn’t have long.

The first Echo Flower burbles quietly. He moves toward it, straining to make out what it’s saying.

_“huh? ya like the flowers, kid? heh. me too. these’re called echo flowers.”_

The next one is across the hall.

_“why’re they called that? easy, c’mere. yeah, just sit down, right there. don’t worry, no one else comes back here so you have a good listen, okay?”_

If Sans pays really _really_ close attention, he can hear the quiet rustle of flower petals.

_“heh, easy kiddo,” Sans chuckled, watching them sheepishly brush the stray flower petals off their shoulders. Some of the flowers closer to their face had decided they didn’t like the rapid change in position. “you okay? not hurt?”_

_They shook their head, cupping their chin carefully in their little hands, looking expectantly at the Echo Flower. Sans shook his head, crouching down behind them._

_“this is an echo flower,” he said carefully, making sure every word was precisely enunciated, “it repeats the last thing it hears."_

_He waited. So did the kid, until their hands flew to their mouth when Sans’ voice came out of the Echo Flower, repeating exactly what he’s just said, word for word. He smiled when they clapped their hands, laughing when their claps echoed back._

_“heh. thought you’d like that.”_

Sans tears himself away from the Echo Flower and continues to stomp down the path. Stupid, _stupid._ He’s wasting time. It’s not worth summoning the energy for a shortcut, even though that would get him there the quickest, but he can’t risk making too much noise and erasing the Echoes.

_“where’re we going? you’ll see in a second.”_

Sans moves to the far side of the tunnel, where his footsteps are less likely to be loud enough for the Flower to hear. But curse the damn things because now he’s got no trouble hearing the conversation.

_“it’s not much farther,” Sans said, keeping a tight hold of the child’s hand, “promise. and they’ll be more echo flowers too, alright?”_

_The child nodded, swinging Sans’ hand gently back and forth. Sans noticed that they seemed to turn their head to look at the Echo Flowers as they passed. Could they hear them? Maybe they could still sense changes in light through all those flowers…whatever the case may be, Sans knew they were going to love the cavern at the back of the tunnel._

_Sure enough, when they finally made it through the small pocket where he kept one of his stashes to the big room with the Echo Flowers, he didn’t even have to say anything before they gasped._

_Of course, the Echo Flowers all gasped too. Sans smiled as they carefully let go of his hand and started walking toward the patch of flowers, the golden petals in their hair standing out against the dark blue dirt and the pale glow of the flowers. As they took a seat at the base of the nearest clump, their chin barely higher than the face of the flowers, the pale blue glow settled around them, almost like a shield._

_Then they looked over their shoulder and held their hand out, calling Sans closer._

_“i’m right here, kiddo, i’m not going anywhere. you got something you wanna show me?”_

Sans curses under his breath. The rumble’s getting stronger. He has to hurry. He stumbles through the damp cavern, spotting the destroyed first-aid kit and snarling at the useless bandages and the remnants of the shattered bottle of disinfectant. Fat lot of good it ended up doing. What the hell was he even _thinking,_ trying to use shit you use to patch up fucking playground scrapes on a stab wound that split their fucking chest?

He should’ve listened. He really should’ve fucking listened.

He doesn’t collapse when he finally makes it into the cavern, but he hits the ground harder than he meant to. He glances up anxiously, hoping the flowers didn’t hear. No, no, they’re still burbling with the soft pitter-patter of the water dripping down the walls, the ones on the outside of the thick grove changing their sounds every few seconds. Sans leans against the nearest wall, panting. He made it. Despite the rumble slowly rising to a roar, he’s made it.

Of course, _now_ he’s got a great sense of timing. Where the fuck was that a few hours ago?

He can hear it. From the middle of the patch, he can hear it. He’s sure if he actually bothers to get up and look, he’d still find blood on the ground. He closes his eyes, trying to block out the faint strains of conversation but it’s no use.

_“you’re gonna have to be patient, kid,” Sans said, shifting through the patch of flowers, “it’s gonna take a minute to get to the middle. though i don’t really understand why you wanna go here so bad…”_

_He paused when they started tugging more frantically on his sleeve. “i’m coming, i’m coming, just…slow down, okay? i’m sure whatever clapping game you’ve made up this time isn’t worth me hurrying over there.”_

_Sans shook his head when it didn’t do anything to them, they only tugged harder. “jeez, kid, ain’t you ever learned of patience?”_

_They shook their head frantically. Sans frowned._

_“come on, it ain’t exactly life or death if i don’t make it over there in two minutes, now is it? in fact—“ Sans stopped completely, taking his sleeve out of their grasp and putting his hands in his pockets— “maybe i should wait here until you ask me nicely.”_

_He chuckled a little at their anxious face. “come on, now, you know better,” he said, watching as they made grasping motions with their hands._

_The child didn’t stand up. Jeez, they could at least put a little effort in, right?_

_“you know, papyrus did this too,” Sans mused, rocking back and forth on the balls of his feet, “played this game. don’t take this the wrong way, kiddo, but you’re not that type of person, are ya?”_

_The child didn’t stop reaching for him, from the middle of the Echo Flowers, their head barely visible over the tops. Every so often, Sans would see them open their mouth but no sound came out. He just waited, rocking back and forth, for them to ask nicely._

Sans covers his face with his hands. Stupid, _stupid._ The kid isn’t Papyrus, isn’t any other monster. They didn’t have a fucking mean bone in their body, what the hell was he thinking?

_Jeez, they really could be stubborn when they wanted to be, couldn’t they? Sans watched their little face control under the flowers, sweat starting to bead on their little cheeks._

_“now, now, there’s no use getting so worked up,” he chided, “you know all you gotta do is be nice and i’ll come right over.”_

_Sans’ smile dimmed slightly when they didn’t stop reaching for him. He squinted. Oh, well now, that was just playing dirty._

_“the croc tears ain’t gonna work on me,” Sans said, shrugging, “papyrus tried that too. you ain’t gonna get anywhere with that. come on, be a good kid, and ask me nicely.”_

_He frowned when they tried to reach for him again and overbalanced, disappearing into the flowers with a low thump. There was no need for this, honestly. What had gotten into the kid today? Maybe they were just having one of those days. It’s not like he’d known them for long enough to get a good grip on it._

_“you fall into a puddle or something?” When they reached out for him again, their hands glistened. “that what you wanted to show me? big puddle?”_

_He frowned again when their flailing hands slid off one of the nearby Echo Flowers, leaving a dark stain on the pale blue light. In the glow, it looked almost black._

_But if it was water…_

_His eyes widened and he rushed forward._

Sans smacks the back of his skull against the wall, growling. What kind of fucking idiot was he? He should’ve known, of course he should have. The kid didn’t care about being nice, they were fucking bleeding out because he was too busy trying to be smarter than they were. What the fuck kind of sick thrill was that, being smarter than a _kid?_ And a _good_ kid, who never did _anything_ like that to anyone.

He remembers finding them split apart, flowers blooming from the wound, not knowing what to do or how to help except to _get them out._ He remembers carrying them out of the flowers, to the cave, a dropping the goddamn bottle, sending glass flying everywhere. He remembers cradling them to his chest, not caring about the stains on his hoodie, preparing them to jump to Grillby’s.

He remembers them going limp in his hold.

_“sweetheart?” Sans knelt down, cradling their head in his hand, trying and failing to keep his hands from pulling too hard on the flowers. Distantly, he hoped it would give him some reaction, something…_

_Nothing._

_“come on, sweetheart, it’s okay,” he kept saying, “i’m right here, come on, talk to me, please.”_

_He forgot that the first flowers grew inside._

_“tell me a story,” he begged, pulling them close and resting their hands on his, “or show me your game, come on…please, sweetheart, please.”_

_When the flower bloomed in their mouth, he broke. Clutching them to his chest, curled over them in the cold, dark cavern, sobbing as his magic oozed out of his eye. No. No, he promised he would protect them. Keep them safe. Keep any more flowers from growing._

_He buried them in the patch of golden flowers at the base of the waterfall._

He can feel it in his bones now. It’s coming. The RESET starts to break at the walls of the cavern, little bits here and there starting to fade. Sans closes his eyes. It won’t be long now. He’ll wake up in the sentry station by the RUINS and see them, coming out of the gates. Or in the snowy hills behind Grillby’s. Or even here, in the cavern, with them cuddled into his lap. Wherever he ends up, he’ll find them. He’ll run over to them, crouch down, pull them into a hug, apologize, apologize, apologize. He’ll make sure they never have to go through that again. Not near the Echo Flowers, not anywhere. He strains as the Echo Flowers start to mimic the soft crackles and hisses as Waterfall fades from existence, trying to remember when everything was okay. A bright flash of light behind his closed eye sockets and then—

Nothing.

Sans focuses, SOUL in his throat, straining to hear the soft rustles of flower petals and the tiny little chuffs of their laughs, from when they were happy here. But it’s too late. The echoes have been erased.

Waterfall is quiet, the burble of the streams is all he can hear.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Come yell at me on tumblr while we're all in quarantine. 
> 
> https://a-small-batch-of-dragons.tumblr.com/


End file.
